But anyway, for those of you in a similar situation, or if you didn’t manage to make it and wonder what it was like to stride the the convention centre soaking up all that big-brained thought, here’s a little video taster…

http://lianzablog2009.datacom.co.nz – A suite of blogs featuring such blogoholics as LibraryKris, Corin Haines and our own Mo-mo.  See what’s been updated lately via Netvibes.

http://ania30.wordpress.com/ – Library student and winner of Te Hikuwai Region scholarship Hydestor prize

http://deborahfitchett.blogspot.com/ – Live-blogged last year, likely to update regularly this.

http://diligentroom.wordpress.com/ – Many hands make light work?

http://www.paulhayton.co.nz/blog – Inveterate web 2.0er, presenting on such at conference.

http://cclbibliofile.wordpress.com/ – Christchurch City Libraries professional blog. They’ll be sending a swag of staff along some of whom will blog it.

There’s also the Twitterati – this just a selection of folks who may be tweeting during conference. Add them to your following list to keep an eye on what they have to say.

Ania30 MagLib Paddy Plunket Vye Perrone Moira Fraser Chelsea@NatLib Brenda Chawner Kris Hana Mirla Adrian Corin Susanne Newton Courtney@NatLib Paul Hayton Deborah Fitchett Nat Torkington Tim Greig Aotearoa People’s Network

The FriendFeed will also let you know what’s coming through via blogs, Twitter, Flickr, and Youtube to do with LIANZA Conference 2009.  And as always, if you know of someone who’s feeding their conference experience out via the web then post the URL as a comment below.

Thanks for reading, thanks for watching, thanks for sharing, thanks for commenting. We’ve loved having you along for the ride.

If you are all packed and ready to come to LIANZA 2009 Conference, then we are looking forward to meeting you next week

If you are staying behind to hold the fort while other folks attend LIANZA 2009 Conference, we want to say a huge thank you because we know that you will be working darn hard while they are away. Thank you for allowing your colleagues come to Christchurch, we promise to take good care of them, we’ll show them a great time and we’ll return them to you inspired, full of passion and enthusiasm.

Whether you are here or there, or somewhere in between, you’ll want to keep up-to-date with the state of play over Conference. So check out our Monday post on who will be vlogging, blogging, tweeting, uploading, commenting, tagging, dancing, singing, talking and sharing their impressions of conference. Add your comments and your feedback, and if you want to ask a question or two, then don’t hesitate.

Thank you for being part of the LIANZA 2009 Conference community. We look forward to meeting many of you in Christchurch, and hearing from lots more of you virtually.

So long. Farewell. Thank you and good night.

So let’s review a little of what we’ve covered -

We made you a map so you wouldn’t get lost, gave you advice on packing and gave you some tips if you’re a conference newbie.  We gave you the rundown on the Keynote speakers and the Invited speakers and your socialising opportunities.

We talked about Special Interest Groups, Web 2.0 and a ton of other stuff on the programme.   And we also tried to give your Mondays some levity.

Oh, and somewhere along the way someone went to the trouble of making a Wordle (which we then forgot about, see above).

I’d just like to take the opportunity to re-post a cute video that we featured as a Monday Funny back in June.  March of the Librarians should get you in the conference mood, I think.

For those of you who were planning to attend these sessions, 4C and 5A, there will be a change presentation time.

Here’s are the new session times :

Ursula Cheer & Nat Torkington (Balanced Copyright would be nice) will now be presenting between 11am – 12noon.

Patti Manolis (Libraries building communities in Timor-Leste) will now be presenting at 2.30pm.

Susanne Newton (Samoan library, Australian librarian) will now be presenting at 3.00pm.

For those of you who haven’t experienced LIANZA Conference before, you will, over the three days find yourself becoming more and more familiar with the lady pictured at right, our Conference MC, Amiria Reriti.

The MC at LIANZA Conference has a very important role.  They impart important information like what to do, where to go, and when to be there.  They keep the ball rolling or stall for time when it turns out the next speaker is in the loo.  In essence they keep the whole thing going smoothly by making sure that the assembled masses are well-informed and in good humour.  No small task.  Last year’s MC Greg Morgan was terrific though by the end he’d nearly lost his voice (bless ‘im).

Our MC for this year Amiria Reriti probably has a bit more experience taking care of her vocal chords as among the many, many things that she does can be included performing with Moana and the Moahunters.  She’s got strong roots to Christchurch hailing from Ngāi Tahu hapū, Ngāi Tuahuriri.

But it doesn’t stop there.  Amiria is a manager within the Auckland Regional Public Health Service and has been the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees Te Kura Kaupapa Māori a Rohe o Mangere, ATAK the National Māori Smokefree Coalition and currently the Black Pearl National Trust. She was a foundation trustee for the Māori Music Industry Coalition and is also a Director of a company, The Associates.  Busy lady, eh?

Aaaand, she’s currently gracing our screens in Māori Television’s popular follow-up to Ask your Auntie, namely Aunty Moves In.  Oh, and she’s also a Justice of the Peace and Marriage Celebrant.  And she was in a movie with Cliff Curtis.  Man, that is one full CV.

If she can manage all that then I’ve no doubt she’ll be able to wrangle hundreds of librarians with aplomb.

Coming up tomorrow on the blog, we’ll be doing a bit of a wrap-up, drawing together that last-minute stuff you need to know as well as pointing you in the direction of other sources of LIANZA Conference coverage.

Not long now, guys!

Past Conference-goers

Heritage libraries are great places to work, but they certainly have their challenges.  There are plenty of sessions at the LIANZA Conference to engage and inspire those working in the heritage sector.

Otago University lecturer Chris Brickell will be sharing his experiences using libraries and archives to research his award winning book Mates & Lovers : a history of gay New Zealand. I heard Chris speaking earlier this year, and he’s a great speaker. I’m always interested to hear the challenges researchers face using our collections, and how we can work together as institutions to make access easier.

Unfortunately, Chris is on the same time as Terehia Biddell from Archives New Zealand. Terehia is going to talk about working with iwi to care for and make discoverable taonga in their collections. I have heard such great things about Terehia, and I am sure this is going to be wonderful. Thank goodness the sessions are recorded!

I’m also keen to hear Sam Minchin discuss Auckland City Libraries and the New Zealand Chinese Association collaborating to create the Chinese Digital Community. The content that is being added to this kete is really exciting.

Copyright is something we all have to be up to speed with, so it will be cool to hear Nat Torkington and Ursula Cheer on Tuesday afternoon.

This is just a taste, and other sessions you might want to attend  include a workshop on the Maori subject headings, DigitalNZ and of course the Preservation SIG meeting on Tuesday.

If you are spending a few extra days in Christchurch, you might want to look at some of the events that are part of Beca Heritage Week. Christchurch City Libraries, University of Canterbury Library and many other local heritage institutions are all involved.

The idea is that you trot around checking out the wares of the various Exhibitors’ stands, collecting stamps for your “passport” as you go.  If you manage to get to around half of the stands (ie you get forty stamps) then you’ll go in the draw to win a prize donated by Conference sponsor, New Zealand Micrographic Services Ltd.

Once you’ve got your forty stamps, post your passport (don’t forget to write your name on it!) into one of the entry boxes in the exhibition area by 1.30pm on Wednesday.  The prize draw will take place at the closing ceremony at 3.30pm and you have to be there to collect your prize or you’ll miss out.  The prize in question is a 1TB LaCie Hard Disk.  That’s a terrabyte of memory folks!  And don’t feel bad if you don’t know how big that is, I had to ask too (1TB = 1000GB).

The National Library of New Zealand stand has prizey goodness on offer as well with Aotearoa People’s Network Kaharoa t-shirts to be won (green is the new black).  Expert advice will also be available in the form of staff from the People’s Network, Content Services, Digital Services, Te Puna and so on but not all at the same time so make sure to check the schedule for the best time to drop by.   Mysterious prizes will be available for some lucky souls who attend presentations (and there’s talk of a quiz) so be sure to include the National Library stand on your ‘itinerary’.

I hear-tell Cardquip is dangling a digital camera shaped carrot to tempt delegates towards their stand and the chances are good that other exhibitors will have prizes and competitions on offer so keep your eyes and ears open when you’re out and about collecting your passport stamps!

Voting is by Conference delegates who will have received an email from Conference Innovators with a link to the voting page.  Voting closes 2.30pm Monday 12 October.

But everyone can view the finalists’ powerpoint presentations and feel proud of the smart thinking and innovation taking place in our own backyard. The 2009 finalists are:

• Early learning through Active Movement – Auckland City Libraries
•  Aotearoa People’s Network – The National Library of New Zealand and Marlborough District Libraries (on behalf of partner Public Libraries)
• Top of the South Stories Project: Te Tau Ihu o te Waka a Maui – Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough Public Libraries, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology Learning Centre and Nelson Provincial Museum

The finalists will show their presentations at Conference, 11.45am on Monday 12 October and the winner will be announced at the LIANZA Awards

 3M Award for Innovation – Previous Trophy Winners
1996 – Information Services – Special Education Service Cost effective CD-ROM Database Distribution project
1997 – Hama Whakapapa Restoration and Research Database project
1998 – Auckland War Memorial Museum Library Cenotaph database project
1999 – Christchurch College of Education NZEdSearch
2000 – Horowhenua Library Trust Koha – a free library Web based database
2001 – Southland Boys’ High School Real Men Read Books
2002 – Manukau City Libraries Tupu – Dawson Road Youth Library project
2003 – Parliamentary Library Infocus
2004 – Puke Ariki Taranaki Information Network
2005 – National Library with Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Manukau Public Libraries AnyQuestions
2006 – eLGAR – Auckland City, Waitakere, Rodney, North Shore and Manukau Libraries Smarter Systems Project
2007 – Horowhenua Library Trust Kete Horowhenua
2008 – Massey University Library Connecting Virtually With Our Students

We promise you a fantastic line up of bars, restaurants and entertainment as seen in the video.

When you purchase a SOL Square card for $45, you receive a booklet detailing the restaurants and bars accepting our SOL Square card and offering discounts.  The SOL Square card can be used to pay for your meal at some establishments, whilst other establishments may use it to offer discounts.  You can buy a SOL Square card at the conference registration desk to take advantage of special deals and discounted drinks!  Unable to attend conference? Come down after work and take this great networking opportunity to dine, enjoy the entertainment and company.

Some menus are available from the SOL Square website. If booking tables, this can be done directly with the restaurant.

New to conference or attending on your own? Aoraki hosts will be at a designated venue to meet, greet and get the party started.  The venue to meet at will be advertised during conference.

Some fantastic local bands have been organised for you to dance the night away with.  LunaFunk are playing @ Fat Eddies from 7.30 pm.  This five piece band play funk, soul, motown and disco with a fresh polished funky sound.  The band will commence as a 2 piece while you are having dinner, and then 3 more will join them to raise the tempo at 10 pm.

At Cartel, a 2 piece Country/Blue Grass Band will be playing from 10 pm.

At Mexican Cafe, The Young Juans, a 5 piece latin / funk band will be playing from 7pm ole!

This is shaping up to be a memorable night, with over 200 people attending.  See you there!